Just Best Friends
by hinata101
Summary: Neji and Tenten have known each other for 10 years and have only been best friends and nothing more, but will things stay the same as they get older? Not if Hinata has anything to do about it!
1. Chapter 1

Just Best Friends: Chapter 1

Neji woke to his alarm clock and the blinding sun light that was shining through his bed room windows. He sat up and started to get ready for school.

"Good morning Neji" Hinata greeted as they met up in the kitchen.

"Morning" He said nodding.

They hopped in Neji's car and started to drive over to Tenten's to pick her up.

"Hey" Tenten said smiling.

Neji nodded and started up the car to drive his cousin and his best friend to school, two people he loved very much, he could recall the day he met Tenten, they were at the ripe age of 7 years old when Hinata had Tenten over for a sleep over, he remembered still thinking girls had cooties and how they begged him to play house with them, he was the only guy they had to play the dad. He laughed to himself; he could never have imagined him and Tenten being such good friends.

When they arrived at the high school Tenten's boy friend Shikamaru was there to give her his morning hello which consisted of kissing. Hinata and Neji usually didn't stick around for that and they started to make their way to their classes. Neji still didn't understand what Tenten liked about Shikamaru, he smoked and more than half the time looked like he hadn't taken a shower. "Neji" Hinata said as they were about to part.

"What?" He asked.

"Can you please go out with Tenten? She's starting to smell like smoke" She said half joking and half serious.

"Why don't you just get Tenten an air freshener?" He said jokingly as he walked to the other way to his first period History class.

Hinata sighed, she'd been trying to convince Neji to get with Tenten for a while now, every time he just shoved the idea off with a joke or simply used the "just friends" excuse. She was determined though; Hinata was going make sure that the two of them got together.

Neji arrived in his English class and was eventually joined by Tenten when the bell rang moments later. "Hey" She said as she sat in the desk next to him.

Hinata was right, Tenten did smell like smoke "Hinata wasn't lying when she said you were starting to smell like smoke" he said as he tried to fan the scent away from his nose.

Tenten grabbed the collar of her shirt and brought it to her nose, "Ugh!" Tenten complained as the stench burned her nostrils "And he told me he was going to quit smoking".

Neji sighed, why was it that girls wanted to fix guys? "I would have worked on trying to get him to take a shower first" Neji said.

"Neji!" she said defending her boy friend.

"I was just kidding!" He lied.

"Okay" Tenten said satisfied.

The end of the day came and Neji rode home alone because Tenten planned to get a rode home with Shikamaru and Hinata was studying with Naruto. He took the long way home enjoying his time in solitude, and thought of his friends who all had someone they were dating and probably hanging with their girl friend/ boy friend, of course having a girl friend might be nice once in a while, but he'd already been in relationships before, he was happier single. Just as he pulled into the driveway to the Hyuuga household he got a text. "Hey, what are you doing tonight? -Sasuke" he read to himself aloud.

"Nothing. Why?" Neji typed onto his phone.

Seconds later Neji's phone rang. "Hey" Sasuke said on the other side of the phone sounding irritable.

"What do you want?"

Sasuke sighed "Do you want to go see a movie with me, Sakura and Sakura's friend?"

"Sakura's putting you up to this?" Neji asked knowing the obvious answer.

"No" Sasuke said, clearly making it known that Sakura was listening.

Neji knew he might regret it, but what was there to lose? He didn't have anything going on tonight, "I'll go. What time?"

He heard Sakura let out a squeal "7 o'clock we'll come pick you up be ready!" Sakura said as she ended the call.

Neji put his phone in his pocket and headed inside.

7 o'clock came and Neji made his way down stairs. "Where are you going?" Hinata asked as Neji went through the living room.

"Movies" He answered.

"Movies? With who?" she asked curiously.

"Sasuke, Sakura, and Sakura's friend" He said quickly as he made his way to the door.

"Who's-" Hinata said before getting cut off when the front door was shut.

Neji took the back seat in car where he sat next to Sakura's friend who greeted him with a smile. "Neji, that's my friend Ami" Sakura said introducing them.

They nodded toward each other and took a moment to briefly and nonchalantly look over each other. Neji had to admit, Ami was quite attractive, blue eyes and long brown hair, and not that he's shallow, but she did have a nice body. Sakura let out a small sigh and was set to get them talking. "So, Neji you know you and Ami both play soccer" Sakura said as Sasuke took a second to glance over at Sakura and he knew tonight was going to long.

"Oh" Neji said taking the hint "What school do you play for?"

"North Kohana High School, I'm center forward" She said glad and relieved that they had something in common.

The conversation went on and eventually they ended up at the movie theater where they went to buy their tickets. "What movie are we going to see?" Sasuke asked.

Sakura already knew that the horror movie thing had been overdone and decided to suggest "The Notebook". When she voiced her idea there really was no choice, so everyone nodded in agreement.

After they had bought popcorn and drinks they took their seats in the back row, where Neji and Ami sat in the row in front of Sakura and Sasuke. Sakura made sure to take a seat directly behind Neji so she could watch how the date would go. "I hate these kinds of movies…." Ami complained under her breath as she took a bite of popcorn.

"Me too" Neji agreed.

She leaned her mouth into his ear to make sure Sakura couldn't hear and whispered "Let's go to another movie".

He nodded, "As soon as the lights go out" he confirmed.

The movie started and they cleverly sneaked out when Sakura was distracted by Sasuke's lips. When they made it out popcorn and all they laughed, high fived and went in search of a comedy.

When they found a movie they walked in quietly snuck in and took a seat just in time to make the beginning of the movie. After they had laughed themselves to tears and the credits came on, they left the theater just in time to see Sakura and Sasuke exit The Notebook. "Where did you guys go?" Sakura asked annoyed.

"We went to see a comedy" Neji said.

"Well, I'm very disappointed" Sakura said.

Ami and Neji glanced at each other and pretended to be ashamed. "I'm so sorry Sakura" Ami said.

"You should be" Sakura said as they began walking to the car.

They stopped at Neji's first, since it was closest and Ami got out of the car to walk him to the door. When they got to the front door of Neji's house they stopped and faced each other. "I had a lot of fun tonight" Ami said laughing as she remembered the comedy they watched.

"Yeah, me too" He agreed.

"We should hang out some time; do you have your cell phone?" She asked.

He handed her his phone and watched as she punched in his number. "Well, bye, call me okay?" She said.

He nodded as she held her arms out and hugged him. She pulled out and kissed him on the cheek. Neji looked at her surprised and watched her as she walked away. The car drove away and Neji walked in to see Hinata on the couch. "Hey" Hinata said as he came in.

Neji joined her on the couch, "Hey".

"What movie did you see?" She asked.

"The Notebook and a comedy"

Hinata snickered "Sakura's idea?"

He nodded "I didn't really watch anything of it, but the beginning, Ami and I snuck out"

"Ami? Sakura set you up on a date?"

"Yeah"

End of chapter 1, this is my first Tenten/Neji fan fiction, hope you enjoyed it. :)


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2: Just Best Friends

It had been a week since Neji's double date with Ami, Sakura and Sasuke. Him and Ami texted often, and he found himself smirking at some of the remarks she had made in her text, they decided they were going to go out on another date tomorrow, walking around the mall. Hinata had been a little discouraged, she was happy for Neji, of course, but who was this Ami girl?

Saturday came and Hinata found out about where Neji and Ami were going, so she decided it would be a good opportunity for her and Naruto to 'bump' into them. She waited about 30 minutes till after Neji left and Naruto swung by to pick her up. "Hinata, are you sure this is a good idea?" Naruto asked, knowng Neji wouldn't be too pleased about running into them.

"I just want to know who she is, that's all" Hinata said.

"Alright. But if this turns out bad you owe me"

She smiled at him and held out her pinky "deal"

He wrapped his pinky around hers and they shook.

Neji and Ami had been walking around the mall aimlessly, "Is there anywhere you want to go?" he asked.

"They did just put in an arcade somewhere..." She suggested.

"Let's go" he said seeing it up ahead.

They went in and choose a game to waste their quarters on, when they came across a motorcycling racing game and they had hopped on.

Hinata and Naruto walked into the mall scouting out areas where the couple may have gone on their date. "Where could they be..." Hinata thought as she examined the map.

"A new arcade was put in, they could be there" Naruto suggested, really just wantimg to go there for himself.

"Good idea!" Hinata said pulling his hand in the direction of the arcade.

It was getting to the end of the race for Ami and Neji, it was a close one, Ami was only ahead by a little and Neji was starting to catch up, but just as he started to get next to her the race was over. She thew her arms above her head in celebration, and looked a Neji "there's always room for you on the back of my motorcycle" she joked.

He smirked at her, "You know that I would have won had the finish line been a little further"

"Yeah, I do" She smiled.

They were just about to leave when Neji saw Hinata and Naruto. He sighed, "What's wrong?" She asked.

"My cousin" Neji said.

"The girl with that blond boy over there" she pointed.

He nodded "Well, what's wrong with her?" She asked.

"Nothing really" He said.

"Well, let's go say hi" she said making her way toward Hinata.

"Wait!" Neji said, but it was too late Hinata had already scoped them out.

"Neji!" Hinata greeted, acting surprised "What are the odds?"

He raised his eye brows at his cousin, "Hey"

She looked over at Ami, "Hi, I'm Hinata, Neji's cousin, and this is my boyfriend, Naruto" she said introducing herself and Naruto.

"I'm Ami" She greeted with a smile.

'_She seems nice...' _Hinata thought returning the smile. "Do you guys want to join us for lunch?" Hinata asked.

Ami looked over at Neji, who for the most part looked like he was keeping his cool. "Actually we were just leaving..." Neji said noticing Ami's eyes had narrowed a bit, and he continued "but we could just stay for lunch"

The group made their way to the food court where they ordered their food. When they sat down Hinata and Ami engaged in some conversation and Neji started to talk with Naruto.

After they finished eating and Hinata had found out what she needed to know about the Ami girl, they went their separate ways. "Sorry if my cousin harassed you in anyway" Neji said almost jokingly.

"She was really nice actually" Ami said.

"Alright, where do you want to go next?" He asked.

"We should go for ice cream" She suggested.

"Okay" He said as they walked toward his car.

They went for ice cream and then Neji drove to her house. When they got there he walked her to the front door. "I had a great time with you today" Ami said smiling at him.

"Yeah, I had a great time too" Neji said.

It became silent, they stood there. "Well?" She asked.

"What?"

"Are you going to stand there or kiss me?" She joked.

He smirked and he began to lean in. He planted his lips on hers, nothing too long, just a quick peck. "Bye" He said as they parted.

So I wrote a chapter 2 almost a year later. Haha, sorry.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

It was Sunday afternoon and Neji heard his phone make the same noise it always did when he got a text message. He walked over to his phone to see that Tenten had texted him asking if he was busy. He told her that he wasn't and soon after that she asked him if he could come over.

Tenten came to the front door, she was a mess, and before Neji could ask her what happened she hugged him. He wrapped his arms back around her. He could feel her tears soak through his shirt, she pulled away. "Sorry" she apologized, seeing her tears on Neji's shirt.

"It's fine" He said "Come on in"

They went in to Neji's room where Tenten plopped her self down on Neji's bed. "So... What happened?" Neji asked shutting the door and joining her on the bed.

"Shikamaru" She started.

"Tenten, I'll kick his ass so hard-" Neji said.

"Don't, I took care of it" Tenten said.

"How?" He asked curiously.

"Well, I found out her was cheating on me, I went over to his apartment, slapped him, and kicked him in the balls" She said.

He smirked at the event that she described to him "Good job" He said putting an arm around her.

"I don't understand what I saw him..." She said.

"Me neither, he smelled bad, didn't shower, he was rude, he smoked-"

"Okay, thank you Neji, I get it"

"Anytime" He joked.

She laid back on Neji's bed and stared up at the ceiling. Neji got up and slipped his shirt off to switch for a new one. Tenten felt her eyes wonder over to him, she wondered why it was so hard to come by guys like Neji, nice guys, and on top of being nice, Neji was good looking, she stopped herself, what was she thinking? Neji was her friend, all he would ever be, plus, what made her think that Neji was interested in her that way? "Something wrong?" He asked.

She shook her head "No, nothing" she answered.

He looked at her, he could tell she was lying "Nothing?"

"Nothing" she assured.

"You sure?" He asked giving her another opportunity to tell him.

"Yes"

He neared her, and stood two inches away from her face "Positive?" he asked again.

She froze, her eyes wide open like a deer in the head lights. She felt herself compelled to move in, and she was doing fine stopping herself, but she threw herself forward and wrapped her arms around his neck. Neji was shocked, not just because Tenten was kissing him, but because he felt something, a spark. When she pulled away, face red, she could see Neji's face was heating up too. Neji started to think about Ami, and he didn't know how he was going to tell her this. Tenten could tell he was troubled "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have kissed you. Let's just forget about it" She apologized for the second time today.

"I can't" Neji said.

"Can't what?" She asked.

"I can't forget this" He said looking her in the eyes "I felt something"

"Well, let's do this" she said, going back to lean in.

He grabbed her face and stopped her "I'm sort of seeing someone"

She backed away embarrassed, "I feel terrible, I'm really sorry".

"You didn't know" he told her.

She stood up "I should leave" she said feeling uncomfortable.

He walked with her to the front door "Again, I'm really sorry" she said.

"Don't be" he said placing a hand on her shoulder.

She sighed "Bye Neji"

"Bye"

He waited until her car was out of sight when he went back inside and found Hinata coming toward him. "What was Tenten over here for?" she asked, wondering why she didn't say hi to her.

"Shikamaru cheated on her" He said.

"Oh, well, I never liked him anyway... Was she okay?"

"Yeah"

"Did anything happen with you two?"

"She kissed me"

"What? But you and Ami..."

"I know, I don't know what to do"

"How was the kiss?"

"Fine" He said as his face started to heated up, something that didn't go unnoticed by Hinata.

"Well, you need to decide if you want to be with Ami or Tenten" Hinata said "And judging by the way your face is heating up, I think the answer is a little obvious"

"So what do I do?" He asked.

Hinata felt herself smile on the inside, it felt nice to be the one who knew what to do, where as Neji was usually the one who had all the answers. "You tell her the truth in person, and then you might want to run like hell, cause she might be mad" Hinata said half joking.

He nodded, "Thanks".

"You're welcome" She said.

End Of Chapter 3!

Thank you for reading!


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Neji sat in his car, palms sweating as he drove to meet Ami at her house. He had every intent to make a u-turn and not go to her house at all, but long behold he pulled into Ami's driveway. He turned off the car and walked to the front door. When he knocked she came outside. "Hi Neji" She greeted.

"Hello Ami" He said.

"What did you want to see me about?" She asked.

He rubbed his sweating palms on his pants "Something... happened" He started.

She raised her brow, "What happened?" she asked.

"I know we aren't 'dating', but I wanted to tell you, because I thought that would be only fair since we are seeing each other..."

"Continue..." she said hesitantly.

"My friend was really upset because her boyfriend had cheated on her, and she came over, and she... kissed me"

Ami kept her cool, "Did you kiss her back?"

"No, but I wanted to, I could feel something"

Ami grabbed the sides of his face and brought her face to meet his. Her lips collided on to his, and he stood there as she started to explore his mouth with her tongue. She was a about a minute passed and she pulled away gasping for air "Did you feel anything?" She asked.

He shook his head, "I didn't either" she confessed, she really liked Neji "I guess it wasn't meant to be" She said half-heartedly smiling at him.

"Sorry" he said.

"Well, it was nice meeting you" she said holding out her hand to shake.

"Yeah" He grabbed it and they shook in an awkward manner.

"So, uh, bye" She said turning to head back in her house.

"Yeah, bye" he said heading to his car.

He drove home, and decided that had easily been the most awkward moment in his life. When he pulled in the driveway he saw Hinata getting home from being with Naruto. "Did you do it?" She asked referring to talking to Ami.

"Yes" He said.

"What did she do?"

"She kissed me"

"What? Neji, you need to stop making girls kiss you" Hinata joked.

"I wish I knew what I was doing to make them kiss me"

"Anyway, what's going to happen to you and Tenten?"

"I don't know" he shrugged.

"Well, you know what I think" Hinata said, restating her position on Tenten and Neji dating.

"I just don't want to rush into it, it's only been a few days since she broke up with Shikamaru"

"How long are you going to wait?"

"Long enough"

She sighed, Neji was the only person who she knew who was as patient as he was, and sometimes, that worried her.

The end~

Yeah, I know that was short and uh, well, kinda, like... awkward. Haha


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

It had been about 3 weeks since Tenten and Neji had kissed, and Hinata was going crazy watching them act like normal. "Naruto, we're throwing a party" Hinata said.

"What for? Your birthday isn't until a few months from now" He asked, rummaging his mind for other reasons she might want to throw a party.

"Neji and Tenten are driving me crazy!" She said almost resembling a woman from a mental institution.

"What are they doing?" He asked, on top of being male, the most clueless of genders, he was Naruto, the boy who took a whole 2 weeks to figure out Hinata and Neji were cousins.

"Nothing! They're just standing there, acting like nothing ever happened!"

"Okay, we'll throw a party this weekend at my place, but..."

"But?" she asked wondering what could possibly be in the way of ending her madness.

"I'm going to need you to come over a few hours early to help out with the party" He said winking.

"Yeah, that's fine, we can go pick up food, drinks, clean and decorate a little bit" Hinata said completely unaware of Naruto's hint of something beyond what he meant.

Naruto sighed, that's not exactly what he had planned, and now that she had said that, having a party seemed like a lot of work, which wasn't something he was in to. "Hey, Neji, Tenten" Hinata called.

They turned around, being interrupted on their conversation about the weather "huh?" they said almost in sync.

"Naruto's having a party this weekend, you guys should come" she invited.

They looked at each other questionably and nodded. Which set into place Hinata's plans for this weekend.

It was Saturday, and Hinata showed up three hours early ready to work, dragging Naruto around where ever she went. Finally, after they finished setting up, people started arriving in small crowds. "Neji, could you and Tenten take these coats to the guest bedroom?" Hinata asked.

They took the coats over to the guest room and as soon as they set them on the bed the door closed and locked behind them. "Hinata!" Neji yelled.

He waited for an answer, which never came. "I guess we're stuck in here" Tenten said, a predicament she had no problem with.

He took a seat on the bed "Yeah"

"Well" she said optimistically, taking a seat next to him "this gives us time alone to talk"

"Okay, what do you want to talk about?"

"I don't know" she said, "What do you think Hinata locked us in here for?"

"She's been trying to get me to make the moves on you for a while, more so since you broke up with Shikamaru" He said "This is her way of making sure it happens I guess"

Tenten laughed a little "Hinata can be so ridiculous sometimes"

"Yeah" he agreed smirking.

"Why didn't you, though?" She asked letting her curiosity come out.

"Huh?" he asked, getting taken off guard for a moment.

"Why didn't you 'make the moves' on me?"

"I wanted you to have some time off from being in a relationship for a while, make sure that I wasn't coming in too fast"

She looked at him and smiled, Neji really was a nice guy, "Thanks, I'm glad not all guys are jerks" she said sliding her hand over his.

"You're welcome"

"But I'm ready whenever you are" She said facing him.

It didn't take him long to take the hint. He pushed some hair away from her face behind her ear as he leaned in. As they kissed, Neji could feel Tenten's lips curve to smile and he couldn't help but to do the same. "Well, Hinata's efforts were not wasted" Tenten said after they pulled apart.

Moments later Hinata popped into the room, "Good, you guys are aloud out now" She said holding the door wide open.

As Tenten and Neji headed out Tenten secretly whispered a "thank you", which made Hinata smile as she mouthed "You're welcome".

Hinata returned to Naruto, "It happened" she said "they're finally going out!"

"Finally" Naruto said.

"Thank you for helping me, Naruto, I know I haven't been a good girlfriend lately, but I'm glad you can put up with me" She said pulling him in for a quick kiss.

"No problem" He said giving her a kiss on the forehead and wrapping his arms around her "You owe me though"

"Anything" she said wrapping her arms back around him, as they started to sway to the beat of the music.

It was 11:00 when the last crowd of people cleared out, and only Tenten, Neji, Hinata and Naruto were left. "Do you want me to stay and help?" Tenten asked.

"We got it" Hinata said intertwining her hand into Naruto's.

"Alright, bye" Tenten said as her and Neji headed out the door.

Neji pulled up to Tenten's house, where he walked her to the door. "Well, I will see you later, _boyfriend_" She said adding emphasis to the last word.

He smirked, and kissed her cheek "You too, girlfriend" he said.

She felt her face heat up at the word, as she headed inside and watched Neji's car leave from the window.


End file.
